Dear Listers, You may recall my request last month for help from the in locating my great great grandparents Thomas and Ann Thompson on the 1841 census (see my previous message appended below). Here is an update on progress (or lack of) to date: I now believe, from the second child's parish register baptism entry (Apr 1840), that in 1841 the family was probably living in Grosvenor Street West in the Ladywood District of Birmingham. In 1841, Ladywood consisted of 18 Enumeration Districts, of which Districts 5, 6, 7, and 8 appear to be missing (from Ancestry.com and from FreeCen). My examination of the description of District 4 suggests that Grosvenor Street West was almost certainly included in one of the missing records - Sod's Law at work! This would explain my lack of success in tracing the family in 1841. By checking entries in the St Thomas parish registers I have been able to confirm the details of the children's baptisms that I'd previously obtained from the IGI. Luckily, the parish register entries also recorded the address of the family at the time of each baptism: 1838 - Mary Ann Street 1840 - Grosvenor Street West 1842 - Broad Street 1843 - William Street 1845 - " " 1848 - " " Failed birth certificate applications to Birmingham Register Office and subsequently to the GRO suggest that the family never bothered to register the births of the first three children. After all, this was in the early days of civil registration. In the WARKS List Archives for Feb 2004, I found someone researching Joseph Thompson (b. 1842), the third child of Thomas and Ann. However, the list member's e-mail address is no longer in use. In 2004, he (or she) was identified as "Rin of Oz" at <[email protected]>. I'd be delighted to hear from anyone who knows the current e-mail address of Rin of Oz. If/when I make any further progress tracing back the Thompson line, I will let you know. Kind regards, John -------------------- John Ball, Brecon, Mid-Wales, UK E-mail: [email protected] John's Homepage: http://www.jlb2005.plus.com/ ----- Original Message ----- From: "John Ball" <[email protected]> To: "B'ham List" <[email protected]>; "Warks List" <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, August 18, 2008 12:36 PM Subject: Thomas and Ann Thompson and family 1841 Dear Listers, Can anyone help find my Thompson family in the 1841 census? I'm researching my great great grandparents Thomas Thompson and Ann Pascall, who married in 1838 at St George's Church, B'ham. They were then living in Mary Ann Street, near St Paul's Church; Ann's maiden name was Pascall and Thomas was a locksmith. Prior to the 1841 census, Thomas and Ann had two children: Thomas, b. 1838, and George, b. 1840 (the dates are from baptism records at St Thomas's Church). So there should be four members of the family in the 1841 census. The problem is, I cannot find the family in the 1841 census. I've searched all the entries for Mary Ann Street (civil parish of St Paul's, enumeration district 9), and also all the entries for William Street off Islington Row, close to St Thomas's Church (civil parish of St Thomas, enumeration districts 12 and 13). I strongly suspect that Thomas and Ann had moved to William Street by the time of the birth of their first child, five months after their marriage. I've checked the 1841 entry for Ann's parents (at Donnington Wood, Lilleshall, Shropshire), but Thomas and Ann and the children were not with them. The reason I checked William Street is that four more children were born in 1842, 1843, 1845, and 1848, all baptised at St Thomas's. The youngest child's birth certificate shows the family living at No 2 Court 6, William Street. By the 1851 census, Thomas had died (probably in 1849), but Ann was still living off a court behind William Street, and continued to do so for at least a further 20 years. I'm applying for the birth certificate of the eldest child, to obtain confirmation of the family's address in July 1838 I wonder if there may be entries missing from the census for William Street? In particular, the residents of the courts at the back of William Street do not seem to be included. I'd be grateful for any help in tracing my Thompson family's whereabouts in 1841. Many thanks, John -------------------- John Ball, Brecon, Mid-Wales, UK E-mail: [email protected] John's Homepage: http://www.jlb2005.plus.com/